1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and to a method for determining aerodynamic properties or characteristics of a wall in contact with a fluid having turbulent flow.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art describes various ways of evaluating the pressure drop of a pressurized gas on turbulent flow in a pipe.
One of these methods consists in stabilizing a flow over a given length, then in measuring the pressure drop downstream, for example between two points of the pipe, the measuring points being sufficiently far from one another. This requires great pipe lengths, mainly with great Reynolds numbers and, for large-diameter pipes, particularly complex procedures (case of hydraulic tests on furrows for example), considerable testing apparatus (high pressure and flow rate), relatively long testing times and therefore high costs.
Viscometers of the prior art are designed with a different aim. They are in fact used to determine the characteristics of a fluid on laminar flow and not the aerodynamic properties of a wall in contact with a fluid on turbulent flow.